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Josh Sheehan is one of League One’s most fouled players this season – but it doesn’t worry him one bit.
The Wanderers playmaker is sixth behind Oxford United’s Ruben Rodrigues and Marcus McGuane, Northampton’s Kieron Bowie, Stevenage’s Jordan Roberts and Peterborough United’s Ephron Mason-Clark, having been fouled a total of 53 times.
In his last few starts, the Welshman has come under increased physical pressure but he says the extra attention won’t put him off his game.
“It has become the norm over the last few matches,” he said. “But it is one of them, if they want to leave one on me, they can leave one on me. I’ll keep getting up. I’ll go and get the ball again and do the same again.
“If that is their game-plan, I’ll just have to make sure I don’t bite, keep doing what I am doing.
“I’ll take it as a compliment – that’s the way I look at it. I’ll keep getting the ball and doing what I do. They can’t take away from that.
“It is the same for the team. They will stand up for me if I’m getting a kicking. We’re all together.”
For Sheehan, you might also read Wanderers, who have suffered a few literal and metaphorical knocks over the last few weeks which have threatened to put them off their automatic promotion chase.
Draws against Charlton, Northampton and Barnsley have shaved away some of the momentum the team had been building as they attempted to catch league leaders Portsmouth but on Tuesday night they get a big chance, playing one of their games in hand at Cambridge United.
Ian Evatt reflected at the weekend that it felt as if the “world was against us” after recent injury and disciplinary issues but Sheehan believes the team can be upbeat that a drop in form has not meant defeats.
“We have drawn a couple, but we have to draw a line under it,” he said. “Every team has a dip in form and if this is ours it has to start again on Tuesday by getting a win at Cambridge.
“Regardless of what goes against us, we are a good enough team to overturn it.
“The way we play, it doesn’t matter if we have 10 men, we’ll have more possession of the ball, we’ll push forward, we will score goals. Maybe we can’t let them affect us as much as they have in the last few weeks but moving forwards we’re all in a positive mindset and we have shown a lot of resilience.
“Everyone needs to get back to positive thinking because the goal we set at the start of the season isn’t that far away.
“There’s nothing else on our minds now than winning at Cambridge and getting back on track where we should be.”
Sheehan accepts, however, that Wanderers have made life more difficult for themselves in the last few weeks by leaking some soft goals.
Uncharacteristically, Evatt’s side have conceded six times in their last three league games, and though first choice keeper Nathan Baxter and captain Ricardo Santos remain out of action, he admits there must be some improvement.
“We can’t give teams a leg-up. It makes it harder because some teams sit off us anyway at the start of games, let alone when you go a goal down, it makes it even harder,” he said.
“We need to start well, keep our foot on the gas and not let up.
“We have shown, even last week with 10 men, that we have enough in the locker to get back into games regardless. We have shown that whatever gets thrown at us, decisions, injuries, whatever, we stick together as a team and we back ourselves to score.
“It feels like we always have to carve teams open, score good goals if that makes sense, and then teams seem to get easy ones against us, which is disappointing on our part. If we can cut that out then if someone does carve us open, or puts one in from 30 yards, then we’ll hold our hands up but when we concede goals like that it is disappointing.”
Santos is on the verge of a comeback, though it is unlikely to happen at the Abbey Stadium. The centre-half has been missing since the end of January with a calf issue but has returned to full training and will be a significant boost when his name is back in the starting line-up, Sheehan says.
“He is the captain and a beast at the back too, so having a player like that would benefit any team in this league. Having him back will be a big thing and we’ll look forward to it.”
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